New York Jewish Communists Oppose Khrushchev’s Views on Jordan Waters

May 19, 1964

NEW YORK (May. 18)

The pro-Communist Freiheit, a daily Yiddish newspaper, has declared editorially that, contrary to the backing of the Arab views by Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev, “Israel has the right to draw off waters from the Jordan River.” Referring to the Khrushchev speech made in Egypt last week, when the Soviet leader took the position that the Arab nations are correct in opposing Israel’s water project, the Freiheit declared:

“Israel’s right to use the northern waters to irrigate its southern regions does not rob the Arab neighbors. The fact is that Jordan’s King Hussein, with the help of funds obtained from Washington, has already started drawing water from the Yarmuk River, north of the Jordan, and is thereby robbing water from Israeli kibbutzim. That forced Israel to consider urgently the matter of providing water for irrigation of the arid Negev and the south in general, where 50 per cent of Israel’s land area is located and which can use only 15 percent of Israel’s water resources. Just as the Arab neighbors have rights, so Israel has the right to regulate its land’s water resources in order to transform its wilderness into a blooming region.”